Badger Update, plus a cute little rat and a fine stock dove

I’m going to try to pack in a fair bit tonight as a way of catching up with myself. I’ll start with some badger news (old news for those who follow on Facebook). There are two badgers that visit regularly, one of which is a lactating sow. She’s considerably more shy than the male, but even a shy badger can’t avoid the trail camera. Here she is a few nights ago.

I’ve been working hard with the male badger to get some better poses and positions around the garden. We’re making mutual progress in terms of confidence, which opens up some good opportunities. This is a tiny selection taken over the past few days.

One of my favourite portrait shots of the male badger.

Here he is further down the garden, with a fox lurking in the background.

Badger… black and white… makes sense to me!

Badger in the long grass

Happy with peanuts

As for the rest of this post, the first is one of several shots I’ve taken recently of a stock dove. These look very similar to the more prevalent feral pigeon, but a slighter in build and can most easily be distinguished by the dark eye. Yes, this is an arty rendition but I did get some sharp shots too. I just like this sort of thing.

Stock dove (motion blur)

Finally a couple of my favourite little rats down at Falmer Pond today. They were out in force (five were running around at one point), but they do look cute when standing on hind legs.

Brown rat peering over the undergrowth

Brown rat on hind legs at Falmer Pond

Camera note: all badger photos taken with the Canon 7D Mark II and EF70-300mm 4.5-5.6 DO IS lens. Everything else is with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens.